All the wood and hardware you need to build your own high-end acoustic guitar with a solid spruce top. Critical steps such as neck-joint machining, fretboard slotting, soundboard finishing, thickness sanding, and side shaping have been done for you by skilled luthiers. Included instructions will make YOU a skilled luthier as you assemble the body; install and trim the braces, back, soundboard, neck, and fretboard; rout, attach, and trim the purflings and bindings; and learn how much more there is to producing a fine instrument. Includes everything you need but glue, finishes, and tools. Choose the Dreadnought model with mahogany sides and back, Richlite fingerboard and bridge; or Auditorium, Dreadnought Herringbone, Dreadnought, or D.41 models with East Indian rosewood back and sides, and Richlite fingerboard and bridge.

Case sold separately.

Check the drop-down menu to the right to select colors and/or other options.

Good to exellent value - not for those who give up easily.THere used to be many more choices from the Martin Factory. My first build was a custom 000-18 with...Read complete review

Good to exellent value - not for those who give up easily.THere used to be many more choices from the Martin Factory. My first build was a custom 000-18 with a big 1 7/8" nut 14 fret neck (dovetail joint) and I was able to carve the neck to fit my own hand. THis was back in 1995. The Sitka top was unbelievably nice - I haven't seen wood like that since. I was able to carve the braces etc as well. Still my favorite 000 size guitar. I was able to buy heringbone purfling for it as well.Nowadays Martin does just a few standard models. I have also done a D-18 (with the bolt-on style neck) which had an interesting bearclaw i the top wood. That one sounds great (1998 and my daughter still plays it. The neck came pre-carved which was a bit of a disappointment to me. Later did a DMX model when they were still selling laminate back and sides kits. Gave that to mydad and got it back last year after he passed. A bit of tweaking ( he never played) and that one sounds and plays great - and is played by my stepson. I began assembling these things with no experience at all. Read a lot, measured twice before I cut, made a few mistakes and learned from them and always ended up with great sounding and playing guitars.This would be a great way to begin a hobby and a way to build skills if you want to build more than one, but not really the easiest way to get a decent sounding guitar. Decent guitars are o inexpensive these days that the kit would not be a way to save money on a guitar but a way to begin a hobby that can get you a lot of really good guitars in the long run.Not their best wood anymore - at least not cosmetically - but good enough to make the guita sound great. Why would they let someone just ruin a great piece of wood anyway? Any experienced builder could figure out how to get to quality wood once they know what they are doing. The wood is good enough, though.A bit pricey if you are learning and aren't all that patient, but not as pricey as what you'd pay for something from the Stew-Mac catalogue

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Most Liked Negative Review

Low quality parts

I am an experienced builder, I bought the Martin D41 kit because of a sale and paid a little more then 1/2 price. First you should know Martin will never sell its first...Read complete review

I am an experienced builder, I bought the Martin D41 kit because of a sale and paid a little more then 1/2 price. First you should know Martin will never sell its first quality parts, so what you get in the kit is the luck of the draw, and I pulled a deuce. The neck had a large knot at the 7th fret, the fret board had a crack at the nut end, the sides were loaded with (white) mineral deposits, impossible to mask, and the pearl for the sound hole did not match the purfling pearl. The instrument does sound excellent, but looks like a second so I can not and will not sell it.Warning to beginners: you will need an additional investment of 1000.00 + - worth of tool, jigs and finishing equipment to complete the kit correctly, and great woodworking skills.If you just want a guitar to play buy a built one.

Never built a guitar before and this was great. It wasn't easy but there are many MANAGABLE steps. Some on here claim to be experienced luthiers and then complain about this kit.... Well guess what? It's a kit!!! Don't waste your money if you've built from scratch. You don't have as much flexibility with a kit as you would building scratch.

Others complain its too hard. Well as a guy with no wood working experience, it's really not that hard. Can you finish this in a weekend, you ask? NO! This could take a couple months, especially if you're like me and want everything to be perfect, plus no woodworking experience.

If you would like to get into wood working and guitar building, do this! Well worth the money! Just take your time and you'll have semi-custom built guitar.

Parts are random. Some parts from D-28, HD-28, D-18. Mismatched woods. Blemished parts. This is obviously parts that Martin doesn't want. They used to sell great kits. I ordered 2 kits, sent them back because of flaws, got new ones, sent them back as well and cancelled my order. Thank goodness, Musicians Friend stands behind their products and returns were easy.

As stated, kit parts may have some cosmetic flaws that caused Martin to not use them in production. Most have no effect on the sound or playability. I have built 3 kits. Each progessively better. #1 plays great, sounds great but has several cosmetic flaws in my fit and finish. By #3 I have a guitar that I think exceeds any of the shelf guitar on the market, period! You will need to buy some tools, do a lot of study in what makes a great guitar,buy or make some jigs, and be patient. There are great skills to learn and knowlege to be gained. I would not take any thing for the experience.

Good to exellent value - not for those who give up easily.THere used to be many more choices from the Martin Factory. My first build was a custom 000-18 with a big 1 7/8" nut 14 fret neck (dovetail joint) and I was able to carve the neck to fit my own hand. THis was back in 1995. The Sitka top was unbelievably nice - I haven't seen wood like that since. I was able to carve the braces etc as well. Still my favorite 000 size guitar. I was able to buy heringbone purfling for it as well.Nowadays Martin does just a few standard models. I have also done a D-18 (with the bolt-on style neck) which had an interesting bearclaw i the top wood. That one sounds great (1998 and my daughter still plays it. The neck came pre-carved which was a bit of a disappointment to me. Later did a DMX model when they were still selling laminate back and sides kits. Gave that to mydad and got it back last year after he passed. A bit of tweaking ( he never played) and that one sounds and plays great - and is played by my stepson. I began assembling these things with no experience at all. Read a lot, measured twice before I cut, made a few mistakes and learned from them and always ended up with great sounding and playing guitars.This would be a great way to begin a hobby and a way to build skills if you want to build more than one, but not really the easiest way to get a decent sounding guitar. Decent guitars are o inexpensive these days that the kit would not be a way to save money on a guitar but a way to begin a hobby that can get you a lot of really good guitars in the long run.Not their best wood anymore - at least not cosmetically - but good enough to make the guita sound great. Why would they let someone just ruin a great piece of wood anyway? Any experienced builder could figure out how to get to quality wood once they know what they are doing. The wood is good enough, though.A bit pricey if you are learning and aren't all that patient, but not as pricey as what you'd pay for something from the Stew-Mac catalogue

My experiece with acoustic guitar making was none. The Martin Kit I bought in 1984 gave all the fine parts as advertised. Study all available information on guitar building and use procedures you believe are best. I built my D-28 Sitka top with Rosewood sides and back using very few specialty tools and made do quite well. The result in sound prompted me to sell my factory built Martin and keep my home made instrument.The secrets are, read all you can about construction then go with confidence. You will be amazed at the simple things you can do to make your instrument fit the sound you desire. All the study you do will be more than rewarded when you have accomplished your goal. Do not hurry ! The kit I bought has given me twenty five years of musical pleasure.

My first kit was the D18 style with laminated sides and back. bolt on neck. I am an experienced wood worker with a well equipped shop and I felt this kit was a challenge. Over all came out very well and plays well. Sounds like a cheap Martin. My second one was the more expensive D28 HD style. It is a much better guitar and sounds great but again was a challenge to set the neck right and get the action playable.

I am an experienced builder, I bought the Martin D41 kit because of a sale and paid a little more then 1/2 price. First you should know Martin will never sell its first quality parts, so what you get in the kit is the luck of the draw, and I pulled a deuce. The neck had a large knot at the 7th fret, the fret board had a crack at the nut end, the sides were loaded with (white) mineral deposits, impossible to mask, and the pearl for the sound hole did not match the purfling pearl. The instrument does sound excellent, but looks like a second so I can not and will not sell it.Warning to beginners: you will need an additional investment of 1000.00 + - worth of tool, jigs and finishing equipment to complete the kit correctly, and great woodworking skills.If you just want a guitar to play buy a built one.

I have built 2 of these guitars from Martin kits about 10-15 years ago. This is NOT something you can snap together and get a good guitar. You need several jigs and several pieces of equipment to put it together and finish it properly. If you are not an experienced woodworker, you are likely going to send it back, or do a bad job, or never finish it. The instruction manual included way back when I bought them was pretty minimal and from the picture, looks like the same one. With that said, with minimal equipment and a little time, you can have a GREAT guitar that is every bit as good as a Martin. If you are buying this to save money, FORGET IT. On the other hand, if you like working with your hands and want the pride of playing something you built, go for it. I am thinking about getting another one soon...

The good: It comes from Martin.The bad: It comes from Martin.Instructions: Almost useless. Save them for bridge placement measurements. Buy a good instrucion book - search for "Building Kit Acoustic Guitars".Quality: Martin saves their best wood (AAA) for production. I am told kits are basicly (A) grade. Mine had flaws in the neck and soundboard.Value: Probably the best value if you are skilled with wood. (besides, if this is your first guild, you will probably make a few mistakes, so why pay more to ruin Master quality wood.Overall: Not bad, not great.

Just wanted to say, this is not a kit for first time guitar makers or a person without complete access to a woodworking shop (preferably a temp. and humidity controlled shop.) I also want to mention that this project probably takes between 120 to 300 hours to complete. I am wood worker who has built four or five guitars, which really isn?t all that many. I just hate to see anyone send this much money on a guitar kit and then not be able to finish it

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